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Notes on video lecture:
The Influence of Silver on the Ming Dynasty
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on May 19, 2014 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
Mongol, silver, laquerware, silk, Asia, Confucionism, Ming, macrofauna, libraries, Japanese, settlement, swamps, elephants, Whip, mulberry, urbanization, dynamism, virtue, Yangming, cultivated
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Ming China (1368-1644)
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China recovered from              conquests and Black Death in the 13th century with the creation of the Ming Dynasty
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became a major importer of             
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from mines in Japan
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trade through Manila
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from 1570s onward, through supplies in the New World, increasing demand for silver in China
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silver coins from the New World, many minted in Mexico from Mexican silver
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1500-1650: half of all European imports from          would be paid for in silver
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China wanted silver because
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it had instituted an important fiscal reform, an effective tax system
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1581: The Single          Tax
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land tax that would be payable in one denomination: silver
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silver readily accessible from                  and North and South American mines
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important for intensifying          state formation
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silver brought about many changes
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increased                         
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new kinds of commodities
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Chinese upper classes took an affection for Japaneses                     
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imports could be paid for by silver
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imported live turkeys from Americas
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private                   
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cultural efflorescence
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Neo-                        
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self improvement
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moral vigor
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self cultivation through education and study
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China's imperial exams
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Wang                  (1472-1529)
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each moral              is naturally embedded within each person
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but it has to be                     
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had a strong individualist and egalitarian philosophy
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very influential on Ming theorists
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rejection of modernization
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but no denying that there was an enormous amount of                  in the Chinese state
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felt on the borders of China
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China was an agrarian aristocracy
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turned its attention to the outer frontiers
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founder of the Ming dynasty argued that agriculture is the foundation of the nation
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therefore open up new lands for                     
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initial fixation was on the south
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increasing opportunities for producing staples
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lure farmers to activities in south
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Canton
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used as a base in southernization
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where much silver entered into China
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money flowed in,          flowed out
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                 trees planted for silk production
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at the expense of the native, tropical forests, natural              filled in with mulberry trees, rice paddies
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technology
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used to drain swamps
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natural ecological systems gave way to agricultural systems
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this spelled doom for the non-human                      and other animals of the region
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at least one species of                    in southern China went extinct
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tigers nearly extinct
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population increase:
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1400: 4 million
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1640: 12 million

Vocabulary:

galleon, n. a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries ⇒ "With the opening of trade through Manila and the arrival of the Manila galleon from the New World, we begin to see the direct tie from the mines of the Andes and Mexico to Chinese demand."
lacquerware, n. objects decoratively covered with a clear or colored wood finish that dries by solvent evaporation or a curing process that produces a hard, durable finish, sometimes inlaid or carved ⇒ "With the increased use of silver and the growing economy, the Ming upper-class took an interest in new products such as lacquerware from Japan."

People:

Wang Yangming (1472-1529)
A Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher, official, educationist, calligraphist and general during the Ming dynasty
  • believed each moral virtue is naturally embedded within each person, but they have to be cultivated
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